Nonprofits and Tax Rates

The New York Times has an article about the charitable giving tax deduction in the context of the overall tax policy and deficit reduction debate:

Mr. Minarik, who was the director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton administration, recalled being involved in putting together the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which reduced tax rates on high-income individuals. "One of the things we heard at that time was that reducing the top bracket rates would destroy the not-for-profit sector," he said.

Instead, he noted, the act reduced the value of a charitable gift to the donor by 24 percent, according to research by the nonprofit trade group Independent Sector, but the next year giving rose 10 percent.